Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is May 11

Published May 7, 2013

Connecticut Food Bank is joining the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) on Saturday, May 11, to Stamp Out Hunger. Now in its 21st year, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, helping to provide assistance to millions of Americans who are struggling to put food on the table.

Held each year on the second Saturday in May, the event helps replenish food banks and pantries in more than 10,000 communities. Last year’s drive marked the ninth consecutive year that people donated more than 70 million pounds of food to the Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

“Connecticut Food Bank thanks the letter carriers for efforts to help us alleviate hunger in Connecticut,” said Nancy L. Carrington, Connecticut Food Bank’s President and CEO. “This food drive is needed because more than half of the people in Connecticut who struggle with hunger do not qualify for federal assistance, such as food stamps. They rely on our network of food pantries and soup kitchens for help.”

Participating letter carriers are sending post cards to residents along their postal route to encourage them to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable food items, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, canned fish or meats, pasta, peanut butter, rice or cereal next to their mailbox prior to the regular mail delivery time on Saturday, May 11. The food donations are collected as letter carriers deliver the mail and are donated to a local agency or Connecticut Food Bank. The NALC is planning a kick-off ceremony on the New Haven Green, Friday, May 10, from noon to 2 p.m.

The need for food assistance continues to exist in every community in America, no matter how rich or poor. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 50 million Americans are food insecure, meaning they live at risk of hunger. Perhaps most alarming is the fact that nearly 17 million children in America, are struggling with hunger. In Connecticut there are nearly 500,000 who don’t always know where their next meal is coming from; 151,000 of them are children.